Diamine Inkvent Calendar Day 18

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

“The Holly and the Ivy” is one of my favorite Christmas carols. I especially like the version sung by John Rutter’s Cambridge Singers. The carol uses the holly plant to evoke images related to Mary’s birth of Christ.

Holly is the color for Day 18. It is a green sheen ink that leans towards teal. The sheen is a bright magenta, which nicely evokes the red berries of the holly plant.

On white Rhodia paper, the tealishness of the ink comes through more. It has nice shading properties in addition to the sheen. The
ink is quite different from the previous greens in the Inkvent calendar (Mistletoe and Elf). It is much darker, for one, and it has a much bluer tone to it. It’s also the first green ink with sheen.

Holly is a gorgeous color. I don’t write with many green inks, but this is one that I can see myself using well beyond the Christmas season.

(Cult Pens provided the Diamine Inkvent Calendar to Pen Addict free of charge for review purposes.)

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Diamine Inkvent Calendar Day 17

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Every year, my mom bought a poinsettia. It looked lovely throughout the holiday season, but then the petals would fall off and a rather ugly plant would remain. She’d tend to it all year, then put it in a dark closet about a month before Christmas, hoping to persuade it to bloom. It never did, so she’d have to buy a fresh one and throw the old, knobby, stubborn one away.

Today’s ink is Poinsettia and it reflects the intense red of a fresh plant in bloom. This is a standard ink, but where the ink pools you’ll see a bit of gold sheen.

Poinsettia is more vibrant than the other red inks in the Inkvent Calendar so far. It leans towards the blue spectrum and reminds me of cherries--you know, the ones soaked in amaretto and dipped in dark chocolate. Of course, the color is named after the plant and it captures the shade of red perfectly.

I don’t buy poinsettias at Christmas because I have three cats, and poinsettias are poisonous to cats. My husband has threatened to bring a poinsettia home on more than one occasion, but thus far I’ve prevented him from committing kitty murder. Still, whenever I see poinsettias, I remember my mom diligently trying to keep her yearly plant alive. I think of Mom often at Christmas. It was her favorite season. If she were still here, I’d send her a fresh poinsettia every December 1 and tell her just to enjoy it while it bloomed.

(Cult Pens provided the Diamine Inkvent Calendar to Pen Addict free of charge for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Diamine Inkvent Calendar Day 16

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

So . . . I still haven’t sent Christmas cards out to anyone. Partly, I’ve just been too busy with finals and grading. But the main reason I procrastinate on Christmas cards is I feel like I should include a fancy newsletter of all the great things the family has done this year. Then I get intimidated by how much work that will be. By the time I talk myself into just sending cards without a newsletter it’s pretty late in December. . . or it’s January.

Season’s Greetings is today’s ink. This ink is a nice reminder that it’s high time to get those Christmas cards written if you’re going to do them at all. I’m not sure what to think of this color. It looks like a murky purple with greenish edges in my swab on the Col-o-ring card, whereas the writing looks magenta because this ink contains lots of sheen.

The actual ink color comes out on white Rhodia paper: surprise! It’s dark teal! I’m not sure how to explain this other than that the Col-o-ring card seems to absorb more ink than Rhodia paper. This means that the magenta sheen predominates on the more absorbent Col-o-ring card, and the teal ink color predominates on the less absorbent Rhodia paper. Regardless, this ink is quite interesting.

I love sheen inks, and I find this one to be especially pretty. Just be aware that the paper you use will determine whether the teal or the sheeny magenta will be most apparent.

(Cult Pens provided the Diamine Inkvent Calendar to Pen Addict free of charge for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!